Don’t let that sweet and cuddly photo from the end of last night’s Big Bang Theory fool you; this episode was packed to the rafters with one full bore fight after another, and, thank jeebus, the result was maybe the funniest ep of the season thus far. Which means I owe Pennard an apology. For weeks now, I’ve used this space to gripe and gripe and gripe about their peripheral, inconsistently funny, and obviously doomed relationship, but last night, for the first time, not only was Pennard the catalyst for most of the comedy, but I actually could picture these two crazy kids making it after all. (Speaking of shaky fall romances on CBS Monday sitcoms — and kids, consider this your SPOILER ALERT — let us take a quick moment of silence for the end of How I Met Your Mother’s Robney last night, and let’s use that time to privately hope for the return of Fat Barney.) (Silence over.)
The verbal brawling began on Big Bang during the inaugural game of Research Lab, Sheldon’s DIY board game where “the physics is theoretical, but the fun is real!” Penny casually mentioned that her friend Justin, a budding musician from back home, was flying into LA and crashing on her couch for a few weeks. This was, by all appearances, the first Leonard had heard this news, and when Penny further allowed that Justin was an old fling — doing so by explaining that he’s “definitely not gay” — well, that was enough to flip Leonard’s lid something fierce. Which put Penny on the defense about her intelligence and independence. Which launched Sheldon on his gut-busting emotional regression, goaded by this simple, primal fear: Mommy and Daddy won’t stop fighting! Even when it’s just Daddy, fighting with himself!
Worse yet, Uncle Raj and Uncle Howard wouldn’t stop fighting either! Their pitched battle over Howard flaking out of a cooking class with Raj (thanks to a juice fast with his mother) packed more we’re-old-married-straight-men laughs into a single scene than last week’s lame episode-long, you-lost-me-my-fighting-kite Woloppali subplot. (Furious he was left to cook with a vegan, Raj bellowed, “Do you know what vegan Chicken and Rice is? Rice!“) It all proved too much for Sheldon. Already on tilt after Penny and Leonard’s continued fighting forced the boys to miss their screening of a digitally re-mastered Time Bandits, Sheldon exploded into a tour-de-force recreation of his ma and pa’s regular contretemps, climaxing with Sheldon-as-his-father exclaiming to Sheldon-as-his-mother, “I’ll tell you what makes Sheldon cry: That I let you name him Sheldon!“
Forced, as he so often is, to take matters into his own hands, Sheldon tried to cajole Penny into apologizing to Leonard by ambushing her while she waitressed at the Cheesecake Factory. Instead, he fussed over the misnomer “half sandwich” — “You can’t make a half sandwich. It’s not half of a whole sandwich, it’s just a small sandwich!” — and then managed to spill just about all of Leonard’s trivial complaints about her: Her temper, her poor driving, her stuffed animals. Which launched yet another round of fighting, driving poor Sheldon into the cold night, lost in a sea of perpetual discontent, as Raj and Howard were also locked in rancorous struggles, this time with their respective parents. (I far prefer Howard’s fight with his mom; yelling “I’m on the toilet!” pretty much trumps anything.)
With nowhere to turn, Sheldon sought the solace of what no doubt got him through those long, bitter nights as a kid in Texas: Nesting into a giant pile of comic books and robot toys. And it was at the comic book store that Penny and Leonard completed their journey as Sheldon’s surrogate parents, with Penny assuring Sheldon that, while she and Leonard may fight on occasion, “no matter what happens, we’ll always love you.” Awwww.
Best Leonard/Sheldon Exchange, Part One:
Leonard: We’re going to the movies
Sheldon: No we’re not. We’re standing in the hallway, suffering through an awkward encounter.
Line that locked in my campaign for Stuart to become a series regular: “I was thinking of closing early and going home, but, let’s face it, that’s just a slightly smaller, lonely room filled with comic books.”
Best Leonard/Sheldon Exchange, Part Two:
Leonard: He does this thing where he pretends he’s in an alternate dimension that occupies the same physical space we’re in, but he can’t perceive us.
Sheldon: Don’t flatter yourself, I’m just ignoring you.
So, Big Bang theorists, do you think Leonard was right to be upset at Penny for not consulting him before inviting Justin to crash on her couch? Or was Leonard simply out of line? Is there anyone else who could squeeze a bigger laugh out of squeezing an orange over a sno-cone than Jim Parsons? Would you play Research Lab if it were a bone fide board game? And now that the writers seem to have a better handle on them as a couple, are you pulling for Pennard to go the distance, or is their courtship still fated for utter failure?
Image Credit: CBS
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they are surely doomed, since the networks cant try anything new i’m sure they will break up only to have leonard fall into the arms of another woman so we can spend the next 8 years hearing,”we were on a break”
I still don’t see the Pennard-storyline working out on the long run – it disturbs the balance of the show’s characters, but this was their most tolerable segment so far. I would be the first one to buy the bona fide Research Lab boardgame, provided that they put Sheldon’s face on the cover. For me the biggest news of this episode was that Jim Parsons could handle the drama (e.g. the mother-father contretemps) as well as the comedy. Well, of course, it was no surprise, he is a great actor, it was just nice to see him playing drama for a couple of minutes.
I wonder how penny would feel if leonard had an aspiring model lady friend move to L.A to crash on his couch…sure she’d be up in arms about that. Also…not sure if I care if Penny+Leonard break up or not. I’m I the only one praying that they introduce the female equivalent of sheldon and/or a possible love intrest for sheldon? Please? Pretty please?
Sheldon already has an obvious love interest named physics. The intelligent viewers realize this is one of the main reasons the character and the show are so freaking awesome!
I’m sure he can’t sucessfully have sexual intercourse with ‘physics’…a flesh and blood human however…..
I’m still trying to figure out how Sheldon got to Raj’s apt and Howard’s home. Did the guys ever fully teach him to drive? And does he have a car now? If not, that’s an awful lot of walking. OK, OK I know I am getting off topic here, so I think Penny is wrong for not discussing this with Leonard, and Stuart gets big laughs from me, so make him a regular, please.
I just assumed Sheldon took the bus. And I agree, Stuart needs to become a regular.
maybe he took a taxi since he was so upset over the arguing…
I kept wondering why Leonard didn’t pony up some cash for the guy to stay at a motel. The guys all have high-paying jobs. I guess they spend all their money on comics. My favorite line of the night was “Three years ago when that woman moved in, I told you not to talk to her, and now we’re late for the movie.”
Physicists have high-paying jobs? But yes, I too loved your Sheldon line.
Physicist (the grad student/post doc type, i.e., not actually professors) make almost nothing, actually…
But Leonard and Sheldon are apparently tenured (or at least on track to be) professors at a prestigious university. That’s not rock star money, but it’s a hell of a lot more than a waitress at a Cheesecake Factory.
Hysterical. Sheldon’s acted out memories of his parents spats had me rolling on the floor. I think Penny and Leonard have a chance. Never say never, I always say (well, me and Sean Connery).
DARNED funny episode but I really did find myself feeling very upset for Sheldon. I just wanted to hug him.
I’m guessing that Raj and Howard live fairly close by. As for Leonard and Penny, it should ultimately be doomed, but what a great twist on what is “normal” for tv and actually have their relationship last the length of the series.
Great episode, mostly because it didn’t focus too much on just one character’s arc. We got Sheldon as the thread among all of them, but we also got equal time with each of the other characters. That’s what makes this show work: it’s an ENSEMBLE. I wish the writers would remember that more often. And YES, Stuart has remained my favorite secondary character, far above Kripke. Please, more Stuart!
My wife and I both agree that Leonard was 100% right — Penny was way out of line and just wrong. At the very least she should have checked with Leonard. If he was OK with it (which no guy would be) then fine, but if it made him that uncomfortable (as it should have) then she needed to tell the musician to find somewhere else to stay. Her getting angry at him about it was ridiculous – not at all out of character, but ridiculous.
Hey, Leonard doesn’t own Penny. This ongoing BF-GF thing is new for her. It’s just a friend crashing on the couch. It was up to Leonard to point out why it bothered him and to have a conversation about it. I know the ongoing BF-GF thing is new to him, too, but he has to learn to discuss his feelings. He knows Penny is different and frequently has a different POV and approach to life.
I agree with Nami. Penny should have checked with Leonard, but his reaction was completely over the top and put her on the defensive. Doesn’t he trust her at all? Can’t wait for Penny/Leonard to end. Anyway, Sheldon owned this episode. Love him.
It’s not new to Penny. She lived with Kurt for 4 years!! but I hope these 2 will break-up, it’s so wrong and brings the worse in them…
Leonard is super insecure about Penny becuase she’s too hot for him and he’s seen her other boyfriends. Its understandable that he would be upset. Doesn’t make it right, but understandable.
Don’t forget about Penny’s own insecurities. She kept saying “you don’t think I’m smart enough” or something along those lines. She’s hot and he’s smart. They’re aware of the chasm and are working through the awkward stages of any good relationship. I hope it works out for them. One other thing, if she’d still been with her other boneheaded beefcakey type ex-boyfriends, they would’ve been super mad at her also for having some guy crash on her couch.
What I liked most about the episode was how it showed a more vulnerable side of Sheldon. The way he reacts to the fights because they remind him of his parent’s fights goes a long way to explain his behavior now. Usually I want to punch him in the face, but last night I just wanted to give him a big hug.
I don’t normally care for Kevin Sussman and cheered when they ousted him on Ugly Betty, but yeah… I could dig him as a series regular here. For sure.
The best way for me for Leonard and Penny to continue would be for them to move past the awkward stages of dating and somehow become more confident in each other. And I am still laughing over Sheldon’s imitation of his parents.
My favorite line was when Sheldon talked about his dad skeet-shooting his mom’s Franklin Mint collectible plates. LOL!
If I were Jim Parsons, this is one of the episodes I’d send in to the Emmys. He was hilarious, especially the voices he was doing while pretending to be both his parents.
Absolutely! It kept me laughing all night.
I agree…this was a quality showing from Jim Parsons. If the Emmy voters can get over their love affair with ‘30 Rock’ and Alec Baldwin, Parsons definitely has a shot (as does Big Bang). I mean, 30 Rock and Baldwin are funny at times, but not as consistently funny as Big Bang and Parsons. I’m hoping for a close race for best comedy between Big Bang and Modern Family. 2 most consistently funny shows on TV right now.